George Hamilton Taylor (1829-1907)
}} Life Sketch A Short Life Sketch of George Hamilton Taylor written by his son, J. Marlow Taylor My father is George Hamilton Taylor. His ancestors were early New Englanders. He was born in Montclair, New Jersey, November 4, 1830, the only one of three brothers and one sister to join the Church. At about 25 years of age he joined the Church in Haverstraw, New York. In about 1857 he was married to Elmina Shephard, also a convert, by President John Taylor. Two years earlier, he with his new bride started their exodus westward. They went first to Wisconsin, the home of his wife's parents. While there, unbeknown by them that they were married, they were married again by their Presbyterian minister. They continued their journey to Winter Quarters where they outfitted with oxen and wagon. They thus continued their journey westward and in l859 entered the Salt Lake Valley by way of Emigration Canyon. Their first employment, father's wife taught school in the little schoolhouse near the mouth of Parley's Canyon. Before leaving New York, father served a three year apprenticeship as a calico engraver. He now had to take any kind of employment he could find. His first job was at a saw mill in Cottonwood Canyon. This resulted in his becoming interested in the lumber business. He later brought across the plains by ox team and wagon the first mill business. He later purchased a lot in downtown Salt Lake where he bought a spacious home. Here he lived with his wife Elmina until her death. In about 1875 there came to reside, adjacent to his home, a young lady, Lois Foote from Nephi, Utah, to attend the University. With the consent of his first wife, Elmina, he began paying some attention to this young lady and in time made to her a proposal of marriage. Thus in keeping with the trend, he finally won her consent. The next spring they started by horse and buggy for the St. George Temple where upon arrival they were married, being a plural wife. At the time, father was in his late forties and his new bride was nineteen. Returning to Salt Lake they lived in the home with the first wife. Here my mother bore him three children. Father's first wife, Elmina, took care of her. About this time father was called on a mission to England. He returned home after a two-year mission and shortly thereafter was sustained a member of the 14th Ward Bishopric, a member for thirty years, the last twenty years as Bishop. He was still Bishop when he died at age seventy-eight. Father served as an ordinance worker in the alt Lake Temple from the time of its opening until his death. In 1885 the Edmonds Tucker Law was passed by the federal government. Utah still being a territory, all of the administration officers were named in Washington and sent to Salt Lake to administer the law. This included the deputies and judges. Many of these men were prejudiced and bitter. Here approached a period of the most difficult and trying times in church history. The Church property and real estate was all confiscated, including Temple Block. It was to be sold in the thought that the sale of this property would end the menace of Mormonism. It was at this time that the bitter crusade to gain evidence to convict and imprison the men who had entered plural marriage took place. My mother was in hiding in American Fork when I was born, April 28, 1885. The crusade was still raging in 1887 when my younger sister was born while my mother was living in Kaysville. President John Taylor was also in hiding at the same time. It was here he died in 1887. In my early boyhood father often took me to the Temple to be baptized for the dead. The faith and teachings and good example of my father and mother largely moulded my life and brought me to a deep appreciation and love of the Gospel. Father eventually, like many others, was convicted, fined and sentenced to the penitentiary where he served in stripes for six months. Soon after father's release from prison, he built a home in the Sugar House Ward for my mother and her six children.